All you RepubicHairs, Dimocraps, and Labiatarians...post every negative, cliche-ridden, polemic diatribe right damn here...it'll save all of us from looking at 100 meaningless threads that devolve into the same damn thing...So IF:

You think that Kerry is a spineless, war hero peacenik bastard ...OR
You think that the only Bush that you like is during sex.. with no budget...OR
You think Nader is DEAD SEXY....to VooDoo women..

Please post every political article/commentary/debate/rants here....The rest of us will be grateful....

We can start with the following article...DimoCratically...OR a post of your own choosing:

Mar 12, 8:23 PM (ET)
By JOHN SOLOMON
(AP) - The Justice Department investigation that criticized FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World Trade Center site also found that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a high-ranking FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11 attack scenes. The final investigatory report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon." The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday night that Rumsfeld has a shard of metal from the jetliner that struck the Pentagon on a table in his office and shows it to people as a reminder of the tragedy Pentagon workers shared on Sept. 11, 2001. "He doesn't consider it his own," Di Rita said, adding the piece is on display for the Pentagon. "We are mindful of the fact that if somebody has an evidentiary requirement to have this shard of metal, we will provide it to them."

The Justice Department investigation also collected testimony that Pasquale D'Amuro, FBI Director Robert Mueller's executive assistant director for terrorism until last summer, asked a supervisory agent to "obtain a half dozen items from the WTC debris so the items could be given to dignitaries." Six items - none needed as evidence - were gathered and sent to D'Amuro, the report said. D'Amuro, now the head of the FBI's New York office, told investigators that "he asked for a piece of the building as a memento" and that he was aware that agents had taken such items from other terrorist crime scenes over the years.

He said he got a piece of the building in June 2003 but denied asking for items for dignitaries. D'Amuro left the following month from FBI headquarters as Mueller's top terrorism official to become an assistant director in charge of the New York office. Joe Valiquette, a spokesman for the New York FBI office, declined to comment Friday. The report also divulged that FBI agents' removal of items like a Tiffany crystal globe from the World Trade Center rubble gutted a criminal case the bureau was building against a Minnesota contractor that had taken a fire truck door from the same rubble.

Prosecutors told the FBI they "might not indict the crime regarding the fire truck door due to government misconduct involving the Tiffany globe," the report said. Surviving family members were surprised by the latest news. "Unbelievable," said William Doyle, whose son was killed in the World Trade Center. "Everybody has things that they probably should not have from the World Trade Center site," added Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son died in the towers. "I'm sure there's probably all kinds of people that have all kinds of artifacts."

The Justice Department's report has not been officially released, but heavily deleted versions of the report began circulating around Washington last month showing 13 FBI agents had taken rubble, debris and items such as flags and a Tiffany crystal globe paperweight. The bureau announced it was banning agents from taking items from crimes scenes, but no agents were being charged with crimes because the bureau did not have such a policy during the Sept. 11 investigation.

The full report obtained by the AP divulges some senior FBI managers were among those cited for having authorized or asked for mementos from the World Trade Center site. In addition to D'Amuro, the report stated the now-retired head of the New York FBI office, Barry Mawn, asked and received an American flag and a piece of marble from the debris before his retirement.

The report also states the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Knoxville, Tenn., Joe Clark, contacted FBI officials in New York requesting a piece of debris to display in an exhibit dealing with hate crimes. A 100-pound piece of steel was sent to Clark, the report said. The report stated FBI agents who worked in New York repeatedly expressed their disgust that visiting agents and supervisors would seek souvenirs from the terrorist attacks.

Many interviewed regarded the debris as sacred, the reported stated, "and were disgusted by the fact that anyone would want to take items, including pieces of the building which were contaminated with blood and human body parts." The report discloses that among the items taken, agents had cut World Trade Center security patches from the sleeves of shirt pieces found in the rubble. One New York agent who worked on the evidence recovery team "stated it was a ghoulish prospect that anyone would want things from a crime scene where people have died," the report said.

Two senior FBI lawyers from New York told the investigators they were never consulted by FBI managers about the propriety of taking items, and they would have objected. The FBI New York office's ethics officer, Steven Carolotto, "emphatically stated FBI agents could not profit from working any location" and the "calamity of the event was inconsistent with the taking of items for personal use."

Investigators also stated that they found evidence that the agent who ran the recovery effort at the landfill, Richard Marx of Philadelphia, gave "inconsistent" answers during the investigation after several colleagues claimed he had given them permission to take items. Last summer, Marx was subjected to a lie detector test in which he said he did not recall giving items to Mawn, did not recall giving permission for evidence recovery agents to take items and insisted he was completely true when he gave an affidavit to the investigation. "The results of the examination indicated that Marx was deceptive in his responses to all three questions," the Justice report said. FBI officials declined to comment about Marx's conduct.

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Or you can riff on a RepubicHair article ...or roll your own out onto the tarmac of life:
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By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry returned to Congress on Thursday for a series of party unity meetings and slammed a "Republican attack squad" that he said specializes in destroying foes. Kerry, facing a flood of Republican criticism for characterizing his critics in the other party on Wednesday as a "crooked, lying group," refused to apologize and amplified his charges. "There is a Republican attack squad that specializes in trying to destroy people and be negative," Kerry told reporters after having lunch in the Capitol with his Senate Democratic colleagues. "I think the president needs to talk about the real priorities of our country."

Kerry, preparing for his match-up with President Bush in November, also met with House Democrats and the black and Hispanic caucuses as he tried to line up support, hammer out a common message and begin to build a financial network for the campaign. Kerry, who met on Wednesday with former rival Howard Dean, will meet later on Thursday with former rival John Edwards and about 100 of his top contributors. Edwards, a North Carolina senator who dropped out of the race last week, planned the meeting to thank his top financial backers and invited Kerry to introduce himself and make a pitch for their support.

Kerry, a Massachusetts senator who has made only one visit back to the Capitol since the primary campaign started at the beginning of the year, was dogged by questions about his comments in Illinois.
Unaware he was being picked up by microphones, Kerry told a worker in a Chicago factory that his Republican critics were "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen."

REPUBLICANS ASK FOR APOLOGY

Republicans blasted Kerry and the Bush campaign asked him to apologize. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois said he took "great umbrage" at the remarks."He's getting off on the wrong foot in this campaign and name calling," Hastert said. "We're not lying when we say that Sen. Kerry is an old-fashioned Democrat -- tax and spend." Kerry refused to back down, citing Bush's bitter presidential primary campaign against Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 and attacks on Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam veteran who lost three limbs in the war, in 2002 as examples of the "Republican attack squad" at work.

"I haven't said anything that's incorrect about them," Kerry said, explaining why he would not apologize. "They said lots of things that are incorrect." Congressional Republicans welcomed Kerry back to the Capitol with a joint Senate and House leadership news conference to condemn his voting record on defense, energy, taxes and the economy. "We're very glad to see Sen. Kerry back, the place hasn't been the same without him," joked Republican House Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, adding Kerry and Democrats had no agenda for the future and "haven't produced anything but hate."

"Listen to John Kerry, either off-microphone or on-microphone, it's all about how bad George Bush is and very little about what he would do and what is the agenda," DeLay said. With Kerry's comments about his Republican critics "America got a little glimpse of the real John Kerry," he said. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Democratic meeting with Kerry was "upbeat and enthusiastic." She said Kerry asked for their help "and we're going to give him that help."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the meeting with House Democrats was "full of unity and commitment to each other to work together to win this election." House members said Kerry did not discuss specific congressional agendas to help his campaign but explored the issues that will frame the national debate into November. "He talked about health care, transportation, and fiscal soundness. He did not lay out a full legislative agenda. We'll be working on that together," Pelosi said.
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--Enjoy things until November...and keep it in one thread...it's the dallas-mavs.com condom !!!!

Rhylan

03-13-2004, 01:52 AM

As a moderator, I'd like to endorse the genius of such a thread. i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

I'd also like to discourage the Kindergarten-style mangling of Democrat/Republican/whatever during any constructive, interesting debate that occurs here. To me, it completely undermines one's credibility to taint an otherwise valid argument with an insult along the lines of "Rudy Huckleberry." (For those of you who are Cosby Show fans.)

For example, OP would be much more receptive to an argument from me singing the praises of Antoine Walker, if I addressed him as OP, than if I started it out by saying "OuthousePoo sucks, #8 is my DAWWG!!" i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif

Dig?

Drbio

03-13-2004, 10:11 AM

Outhousepoo.....I like that.

dude1394

03-13-2004, 12:14 PM

I could care less, since I'm NOT a moderator i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif. On a fundamental level I'm against it. Although they do degrade many times to the same arguments they do not start out that way. The new topics enable focus on different prospects/ideas without wading through 15 pages of junk to find it. But since you asked...

Kerry is a flip-flooping career politician who is supported by all the terrorists of the world. Rummy deserves a souvenir from the pentagon bombing. He probably found it sticking to his foot as he was going in helping people that day. The justice department should shut the heck up about people getting souvenoirs. It's always been bad policy to me.

These people are usually on the front lines (unlike myself) and I don't begrudge them something to have and hold in later years. They deserve something to crow about.

Of course they can always take a souvenoir (or a medal) and then throw someone else's away while keeping theirs.

Chiwas

03-13-2004, 12:31 PM

All you RepubicHairs, Dimocraps, and Labiatarians...post every negative, cliche-ridden, polemic diatribe right damn here...it'll save all of us from looking at 100 meaningless threads that devolve into the same damn thing...
This thread included?:

"Time for a watching party ?" (The Green Party i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif)

dude1394

03-13-2004, 12:41 PM

Chiwas.. Funny..

An honest question about whether you have read the green-party (nader last years) platform? From some of your other comments I can't tell?

Chiwas

03-13-2004, 01:01 PM

I'm just doing it. Yes, some match my own thoughts. In fact also do some or several from the Republican and Democratic Parties and some do not. I couldn't be member or fully supporter of any, if I had to choose, I guess.

Murphy3

03-13-2004, 01:03 PM

Originally posted by: dude1394
I could care less, since I'm NOT a moderator i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif. On a fundamental level I'm against it. Although they do degrade many times to the same arguments they do not start out that way. The new topics enable focus on different prospects/ideas without wading through 15 pages of junk to find it. But since you asked...

good post

Chiwas

03-13-2004, 01:14 PM

Just for reference.

The Independent Citizen for President

For more than four decades, Ralph Nader has saved lives, opened minds, implemented solutions, and inspired citizens everywhere to participate in building a better, more democratic world. He has founded or organized more than 100 civic organizations, authored countless books and publications, and perhaps more than any other person has defined our modern understanding of the American ideals of democracy, civic duty, and participation for the public good, rather than dominance by the corporate powers. Known for his ethics, integrity and independence, Ralph Nader is recognized world-wide for putting democracy to work.

What is less well known is that in his 2000 bid for President of the United States, Ralph Nader earned the votes of citizens across the political spectrum. Under the banner, 'Not for Sale', millions responded to Nader's message to the American people calling for greater accountability for corporations and an end to corporate-controlled government. According to the exit polls conducted by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, fully 25% of his votes came from Republicans, 38% from Democrats, and the remainder from people who would not have voted. No other American leader can be credited with such broad appeal across the divides of our polarized nation. No other American leader can claim such unfettered independence from the ethically bankrupt quagmire of insider politics where the lives of ordinary Americans are regularly sacrificed to commercial interests.

To his credit, Ralph Nader does more than just talk. As the New York Times said, "What sets Nader apart is that he has moved beyond social criticism to effective political action." Part of his mammoth legacy is the effective national network of citizen reform groups that labor to preserve the safety and quality of life of EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN. His groups have made an imprint on many areas including civic skills, tax reform, pensions, aviation, regulation of atomic power, renewable energy, clean air and water, clean elections, food, medicine and auto safety, safety in the workplace, access to healthcare, civil rights, civil justice, Congressional ethics, campaign finance, discriminatory lending, the tobacco industry, corporate crime and reform, investor protection, corporate globalization, agribusiness and small farms, intellectual property, medicine prices abroad, freedom of information, and government procurement. The list goes on and on.

Once again, Ralph Nader is standing up for all Americans, proposing brighter solutions and futures while decrying the big government erosion of civil liberties, the vast diversion of tax dollars for wasteful military spending, the Iraq quagmire, and the daily abuses and frauds suffered by ordinary Americans at the hands of corrupt corporations and indifferent bureaucracies. The campaign is seeking participators, to invoke Jefferson's word, who support his independent campaign for the office of President of the United States.

"There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship toward 'a new birth of freedom.'" — Ralph Nader

Edit: Link (http://votenader.com/why_ralph/index.php?cid=2)

Chiwas

03-13-2004, 02:50 PM

Just for reference.

John Kerry

Vision
John has a bold, new vision for America. An America safe from foreign threats and greedy special interests. John has the experience and plans to lead America to better jobs, quality health care, energy that is clean, renewable, and independent, and greater opportunities for our children.

Courage
John Kerry has always had the courage to stand by what he believes in. John earned three Purple Hearts fighting for America in Vietnam but returned home to fight against the Administration’s ill-conceived foreign policies. For the last 20 years, John has continued to fight against special interests to protect our environment, keep guns off the streets, make prescription drugs available and affordable for seniors, and stop corporations from robbing hardworking Americans by taking jobs overseas.

Leadership
All his life, John has led the fight to make America a safer and stronger nation. As a soldier, prosecutor, and Senator, John has never backed down from a tough fight. John’s life has been defined by having the courage to fight to protect the Alaskan wild from oil drilling, put one of New England’s toughest organized crime bosses behind bars, help expose Oliver North, BCCI and Iran/Contra, find the truth about Vietnam’s MIA’s, raise the minimum wage for hardworking Americans, and rebuild America’s crumbling schools.

Link (http://www.johnkerry.com/about/)

I haven't found a well defined statement established as Bush's cornerstone of his campaign. I will continue seaching for it.

Chiwas

03-13-2004, 03:25 PM

I'll try to make one of Bush from his campaign's page. Geez, he talks -and writes- too much and is very complicated, unable to make a summary of his own thoughts. i/expressions/rolleye.gif (Nah, he maybe does not have time i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif)

George Bush

Economy
Jobs are created when the economy grows; the economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest; and the best and fairest way to make sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place.

Compassion
It is compassionate to actively help our fellow citizens in need. It is conservative to insist on responsibility and results. And with this hopeful approach, we will make a real difference in people's lives."

Health Care
We must reform health care in America. We must build a modern, innovative health care system that give patients more options and fewer orders and strengthens the doctor-patient relationship.

Education
...because of your efforts and your love and your energy, no child in your school is going to be left behind.

Homeland Security
We will bring security to our people and justice for our enemies.

National Security
Our great challenge is to protect the American people. Our great opportunity is to advance the cause of justice and human dignity and freedom all across the world.

Environment
When government, landowners and conservationists work together, we can make dramatic progress in preserving the beauty and the quality of our environment.

My Sources, The Official campaign page -link- (http://]http://]http://www.georgewbush.com/) and several web sites to confirm the quotes.

In fact the persons that built his page took excerpts from different speeches as President.

reeds

03-13-2004, 11:10 PM

BUSH Rhetoric...."Our workers are the most productive, the hardest working, the best craftsmen in the world. And I'm here to thank all those who work hard to make a living here in America.” – Bush, 9/2/02 "

Reality....Bush’s 2003 Budget proposed a 9% ($476 million) cut to job training programs and a 2% ($8 million) cut to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Similarly, his 2004 budget proposes a $60 million cut to adult job training programs and a total elimination of the Youth Opportunities Grants, which provide job training to younger workers.

Fiscal Responsibility
Bush Rhetoric...."One of the ways we've got to make sure that we keep our economy strong is to be wise about how we spend our money. If you overspend, it creates a fundamental weakness in the foundation of economic growth. And so I'm working with Congress to make sure they hear the message -- the message of fiscal responsibility.” Bush, 9/16/02

Reality.."Less than 6 months after this pronouncement, Bush proposed a budget that would put the government more than $300 billion into deficit. As National Journal noted on 2/12/02, Bush’s own 2004 budget tables show that without Bush’s tax and budgetary proposals, the deficit deficit would decline after 2006, but with Bush’s proposals the deficit would grow indefinitely."

Vocational/Technical Ed
Bush Rhetoric..." “I want to thank the good folks here at Rochester Community and Technical College for your hospitality…The most important issue -- the most important issue for any governor in any state is to make sure every single child in your state receives a quality education.” – Bush, [10/18/02]

Reality.."Bush’s 2004 budget proposes to cut vocational and technical education grants by 24% ($307 million). His budget also proposes to freeze funding for pell grants for low income students. "

And you Republicans have the guts to say Kerry "flip flops" and issues??? I can dig up many more if you want me to.....just ask...your precious BUSH is no different that any other politician....

u2sarajevo

03-13-2004, 11:40 PM

You know reeds.... you have the most appropriate avatar I have seen.

reeds

03-14-2004, 11:42 AM

"You know reeds.... you have the most appropriate avatar I have seen"...NO doubt in my mind you are correct.. I am sure you are referring to all the apes I argue with in this room..good point

dude1394

03-14-2004, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by: reeds
BUSH Rhetoric...."Our workers are the most productive, the hardest working, the best craftsmen in the world. And I'm here to thank all those who work hard to make a living here in America.” – Bush, 9/2/02 "

Reality....Bush’s 2003 Budget proposed a 9% ($476 million) cut to job training programs and a 2% ($8 million) cut to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Similarly, his 2004 budget proposes a $60 million cut to adult job training programs and a total elimination of the Youth Opportunities Grants, which provide job training to younger workers.

Fiscal Responsibility
Bush Rhetoric...."One of the ways we've got to make sure that we keep our economy strong is to be wise about how we spend our money. If you overspend, it creates a fundamental weakness in the foundation of economic growth. And so I'm working with Congress to make sure they hear the message -- the message of fiscal responsibility.” Bush, 9/16/02

Reality.."Less than 6 months after this pronouncement, Bush proposed a budget that would put the government more than $300 billion into deficit. As National Journal noted on 2/12/02, Bush’s own 2004 budget tables show that without Bush’s tax and budgetary proposals, the deficit deficit would decline after 2006, but with Bush’s proposals the deficit would grow indefinitely."

Vocational/Technical Ed
Bush Rhetoric..." “I want to thank the good folks here at Rochester Community and Technical College for your hospitality…The most important issue -- the most important issue for any governor in any state is to make sure every single child in your state receives a quality education.” – Bush, [10/18/02]

Reality.."Bush’s 2004 budget proposes to cut vocational and technical education grants by 24% ($307 million). His budget also proposes to freeze funding for pell grants for low income students. "

And you Republicans have the guts to say Kerry "flip flops" and issues??? I can dig up many more if you want me to.....just ask...your precious BUSH is no different that any other politician....

You have to do better than this. This is just normal negotiations on budget items. I notice you don't mention the historic increase in federal spending for the no chile left behind. And of course you talk about him cutting vocational and technical education grants by 24%, but you don't mention how much they actually went up during bush's term. But that's ok, you are taken just as seriously as your "found" quotes. You didn't get these from the NYTimes did you??

u2sarajevo

03-14-2004, 03:50 PM

Originally posted by: reeds
"You know reeds.... you have the most appropriate avatar I have seen"...NO doubt in my mind you are correct.. I am sure you are referring to all the apes I argue with in this room..good pointActually I was referring to the unhappy man avatar. Because you come across as one unhappy person. I can't remember ever seeing one single post from you that had any sort of positive spin. You are all about the negativity. Thus, the unhappy man avatar fits you perfectly.

Usually Lurkin

03-14-2004, 04:05 PM

Originally posted by: dude1394
I notice you don't mention the historic increase in federal spending for the no chile left behind.

I'm somewhat partial to the smokey flavor of the chipotle, myself. Of course due to it's popularity, funding is never in danger for the more traditional jalepeno. Of the poblano and serrano we should make special note, for their flavor. The Cascabel and Habenero's though, you have to be very careful with cause they can sometimes taste bad enough to want to leave behind. But when used correctly they can turn almost any dish into a mouth party.

and Kerry sucks. Only a true watered down, mealy mouth, massachusetts wealth liberal like him would want to leave any chile behind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: dude1394
I notice you don't mention the historic increase in federal spending for the no chile left behind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm somewhat partial to the smokey flavor of the chipotle, myself. Of course due to it's popularity, funding is never in danger for the more traditional jalepeno. Of the poblano and serrano we should make special note, for their flavor. The Cascabel and Habenero's though, you have to be very careful with cause they can sometimes taste bad enough to want to leave behind. But when used correctly they can turn almost any dish into a mouth party.

and Kerry sucks. Only a true watered down, mealy mouth, massachusetts wealth liberal like him would want to leave any chile behind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
this made me think of Gida Ratner's SNL character.

"oh then, never mind."

Nicky31

03-16-2004, 11:40 AM

Originally posted by: Caliente
http://ikeb.00freehost.com/twins5.jpg

Shazam!

Caliente

03-16-2004, 12:14 PM

http://ikeb.00freehost.com/kup.jpg

Caliente

03-18-2004, 02:22 PM

http://www.shopmetrospy.com/graphics/Product_96_PrSpare2.jpg

http://www.shopmetrospy.com/graphics/Product_46_PrSpare2.gif

Caliente

03-19-2004, 11:27 AM

Originally posted by: Rhylan
As a moderator, I'd like to endorse the genius of such a thread. i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

I'd also like to discourage the Kindergarten-style mangling of Democrat/Republican/whatever during any constructive, interesting debate that occurs here. To me, it completely undermines one's credibility to taint an otherwise valid argument with an insult along the lines of "Rudy Huckleberry." (For those of you who are Cosby Show fans.)

For example, OP would be much more receptive to an argument from me singing the praises of Antoine Walker, if I addressed him as OP, than if I started it out by saying "OuthousePoo sucks, #8 is my DAWWG!!" i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif

Dig?

I agree. One thread. Many visions.

sike

03-19-2004, 12:57 PM

Cali is a genius! (I dont have trash talk....sorry)

OutletPass

03-19-2004, 11:12 PM

One thread. Many visions.

So true.

Let the six get the message.

Caliente

03-22-2004, 03:31 PM

JohnF'nKerry link (http://www.johnfnkerry.com/news.htm)

EricaLubarsky

03-22-2004, 03:45 PM

Thanks a lot for posting this thread. I may be a liberal (in the closet) but Im a conservative about The Lounge and Im happy that its back to how I always remembered it.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and many world leaders condemned Monday's killing of Yassin, the most prominent Palestinian targeted by Israel in 3 1/2 years of fighting. The Bush administration said it was "deeply troubled" by the attack and that it had no advance warning. "We will get revenge for every drop of blood that spilled," said Salman Bdeiri, a Hamas supporter crying near the mosque where Yassin prayed shortly before being killed by an Israeli airstrike.

Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza, banning Palestinians from Israel, and placed its security forces on high alert. Later Monday, Palestinian militants fired several homemade rockets and mortar shells at Israeli targets in and near Gaza. To the north, Hezbollah guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli troops along Israel's border with Lebanon.
Israel quickly responded to both attacks. It struck at Hezbollah with planes and artillery fire. No casualties were reported. Israel sent tanks into northern Gaza near the town of Beit Hanoun. Israeli security officials said the purpose of the operation was to prevent further rocket fire.

The Yassin assassination was part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's effort to crush Hamas ahead of a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. However, the killing was seen as a major gamble that could galvanize the Palestinians behind Hamas. Rival Palestinian militant groups immediately pledged solidarity with Hamas. The missile strike dealt what could be the final blow to the stalled U.S.-led "road map" peace plan. It also angered Egypt and Jordan, moderate Arab states whose tacit support Sharon needs for any unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.

Since Yassin founded Hamas in 1987, the group has killed hundreds of Israelis in scores of attacks. Hamas wants to destroy the Jewish state and replace it with an Islamic one. For the first time Monday, Hamas threatened the United States and suggested it might seek outside help in carrying out revenge attacks. "The Zionists didn't carry out their operation without getting the consent of the terrorist American administration and it (the United States) must take responsibility for this crime," Hamas said in a statement. "All the Muslims of the world will be honored to join in on the retaliation for this crime."

In the past, Hamas has refrained from targeting U.S. citizens or interests, instead focusing on fund-raising and recruitment within the United States, according to senior U.S. law enforcement officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was heeding the Hamas terror warning. "If they are threatening the United States, we have to take it quite seriously," he told reporters in Washington.

While not condemning the assassination, the State Department said it increases tensions and would make it harder to pursue peace in the Middle East. "We are troubled," spokesman Richard Boucher said.
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told NBC that "it is very important that everyone step back and try now to be calm in the region." But Israel said it will press ahead with more targeted attacks and raids.

"The war against terror has not ended and will continue day after day, everywhere," Sharon said. He called Yassin the "mastermind of Palestinian terror" and a "mass murderer who is among Israel's greatest enemies." More than 200,000 Palestinians, some carrying billowing green Hamas flags, poured into the streets of Gaza City for Yassin's funeral procession, the largest gathering here in recent memory. Tens of thousands of furious Palestinians rallied across the West Bank.

Mourners in Gaza jostled to touch Yassin's flag-draped coffin, and women ululated and threw flowers and candy. Two Israeli helicopters flew above, and the sky was blackened from the smoke of burning tires. At the cemetery, Yassin's body was paraded through an honor guard of 400 militants armed with anti-tank missiles and machine guns. "Our leader has left us, but we say to him, 'Your lessons will stay within our hearts and minds and our generations,'" Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, said in a eulogy.

In addition to Yassin, who was in his 60s, 12 Palestinians were killed Monday, seven in the airstrike, four in clashes with Israeli troops and one while handling explosives. The attack came before daybreak, when Israeli helicopters swooped toward a Gaza street and fired three missiles as Yassin, his bodyguards and dozens of others left the mosque. Blood and flesh splattered on the walls. Nearby windows shattered. Only a charred metal seat and two twisted wheels were left of Yassin's wheelchair, and a blood-soaked brown shoe lay in the street. Lying in tatters nearby was the brown blanket in which Yassin - a quadriplegic - was nearly always wrapped.

"Two or three people were lying next to him on the ground. One was legless," said taxi driver Yousef Haddad. Among those killed were several of Yassin's bodyguards and his son-in-law. Seventeen people were wounded, including two of Yassin's sons. After the attack, residents rubbed their hands in pieces of gravel mixed with Yassin's blood, a traditional sign of anger and a preparation for revenge. The Palestinian Authority declared three days of mourning and closed schools. Flags at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah headquarters were lowered to half-staff.

Palestinian ministers stood as Arafat recited a Muslim prayer for Yassin and then added: "May you join the martyrs and the prophets. To heaven, you martyr." The missile strike shook Arafat in more ways than one. The massive outpouring of support for Hamas showed how formidable a rival the Islamic group has become to Arafat's weakened Palestinian Authority. Arafat also fears he may be next on Israel's hit list, said a confidant, Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed.

However, an Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel's campaign focuses on Hamas, at least for now. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, urged Israel to keep its promise to not harm Arafat. "We think that's an important pledge and we would expect them to stand by that." Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Yassin's killing will eventually weaken Hamas. "If we have to balance how many more terrorists Yassin would have sent, how many terror attacks he would have approved, if we weigh this on the scales, we acted rightly," Mofaz was quoted as telling a parliamentary committee.

But Sharon's critics in Israel warned that the Yassin killing could be viewed as an attack on Islam. "This had nothing to do with security, nothing to do with protecting Israeli citizens. It's all about politics and public opinion," said lawmaker Yossi Sarid of the dovish Yahad Party. Yassin's killing virtually buried hopes of reviving the road map, which envisioned an end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by next year. "Such actions are not only contrary to international law, but they do not do anything to help the search for a peaceful solution," Annan said of the assassination.

European and Arab leaders condemned the killing. Egypt canceled a trip by legislators and other dignitaries to Israel to mark the 25th anniversary of the peace treaty between the two countries. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the assassination "is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its objectives."

The person who made this banner is very misguided, although the fact that it is publically displayed shows just how poorly the Bush WH has handled the PR angle and fumbled the ball as it relates to world opinion.

madape

03-24-2004, 12:01 PM

When an American Jew stands at the gates of a former concentration camp and sees the inscription "Never again", he assumes it's a commitment never again to tolerate genocide. Alain Finkielkraut, a French thinker, says that those two words to a European mean this: never again the f&uuml;hrers and duces who enabled such genocide. "Never again power politics. Never again nationalism. Never again Auschwitz" - a slightly different set of priorities. And over the years a revulsion against any kind of "power politics" has come to trump whatever revulsion post-Auschwitz Europe might feel about mass murder.

That's why the EU let hundreds of thousands of Bosnians and Croats die on its borders until the Americans were permitted to step in. That's why the fact that thousands of Iraqis are no longer being murdered by their government is trivial when weighed against the use of Anglo-American military force required to effect their freedom. "Never again" has evolved to mean precisely the kind of passivity that enabled the Holocaust first time round.

.. Mark Steyn, March 23, 2004

Caliente

03-24-2004, 05:56 PM

Armed forces tribute (http://www.armedforcestribute.com/)

dude1394

03-24-2004, 08:01 PM

Thanks caliente. I have a son-in-law who is about to return from Iraq. I'm always incredibly humbled and proud of this young american.

Dooby

03-25-2004, 10:50 AM

The Republican National Committee With a Sense of Humor (http://www.rnc.org/News/MultiMedia/VideoPlayer.aspx?ID=800&T=2)

Compare to picture #9 with one ... click.... (http://kburns.home.texas.net/MavsParty1/)

OutletPass

04-02-2004, 06:39 AM

'I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa'ida would attack cities with aeroplanes'
Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The Independent
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
02 April 2004

A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened. She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".

Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators providing information that was circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft was just months away and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a court by citing the rarely used "state secrets privilege".

She told The Independent yesterday: "I gave [the commission] details of specific investigation files, the specific dates, specific target information, specific managers in charge of the investigation. I gave them everything so that they could go back and follow up. This is not hearsay. These are things that are documented. These things can be established very easily." She added: "There was general information about the time-frame, about methods to be used * but not specifically about how they would be used * and about people being in place and who was ordering these sorts of terror attacks. There were other cities that were mentioned. Major cities * with skyscrapers."

The accusations from Mrs Edmonds, 33, a Turkish-American who speaks Azerbaijani, Farsi, Turkish and English, will reignite the controversy over whether the administration ignored warnings about al-Qa'ida. That controversy was sparked most recently by Richard Clarke, a former counter-terrorism official, who has accused the administration of ignoring his warnings. The issue * what the administration knew and when * is central to the investigation by the 9/11 Commission, which has been hearing testimony in public and private from government officials, intelligence officials and secret sources. Earlier this week, the White House made a U-turn when it said that Ms Rice would appear in public before the commission to answer questions. Mr Bush and his deputy, Dick Cheney, will also be questioned in a closed-door session.

Mrs Edmonds, 33, says she gave her evidence to the commission in a specially constructed "secure" room at its offices in Washington on 11 February. She was hired as a translator for the FBI's Washington field office on 13 September 2001, just two days after the al-Qa'ida attacks. Her job was to translate documents and recordings from FBI wire-taps. She said said it was clear there was sufficient information during the spring and summer of 2001 to indicate terrorists were planning an attack. "Most of what I told the commission * 90 per cent of it * related to the investigations that I was involved in or just from working in the department. Two hundred translators side by side, you get to see and hear a lot of other things as well."

"President Bush said they had no specific information about 11 September and that is accurate but only because he said 11 September," she said. There was, however, general information about the use of airplanes and that an attack was just months away. To try to refute Mr Clarke's accusations, Ms Rice said the administration did take steps to counter al-Qa'ida. But in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on 22 March, Ms Rice wrote: "Despite what some have suggested, we received no intelligence that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles, though some analysts speculated that terrorists might hijack planes to try and free US-held terrorists."

Mrs Edmonds said that by using the word "we", Ms Rice told an "outrageous lie". She said: "Rice says 'we' not 'I'. That would include all people from the FBI, the CIA and DIA [Defence Intelligence Agency]. I am saying that is impossible." It is impossible at this stage to verify Mrs Edmonds' claims. However, some senior US senators testified to her credibility in 2002 when she went public with separate allegations relating to alleged incompetence and corruption within the FBI's translation department.

OutletPass

04-02-2004, 07:07 AM

In related news:

AUSTIN, TX.. (AP) -- The judicial affairs office at the University of Texas hasn't investigated George W. Bush for sexual assault or sexual harassment since April, 2002, according to a university report.

The school provided the report this week to the Board of Regents panel investigating the football program's ties with the former Governor of Texas in the wake of allegations that alcohol and sex are offered to entice high school players. The UT board of Regents have reported that the now Presidential penis is much too small to have caused any property or monetary damage. "By the laws of this state, "ittsy bitsy" isn't capable of rape or enticement, said noted defense attorney, Vernon Gina. "Hell, those underage grls were just Nebraska coeds, if you know what I mean."

Austin police closed the case after consuming two dozen jelly donuts at a photographic viewing of the alleged presidential penis. Three officers are currently being treated at Mother Seton hospital.

Dooby

04-05-2004, 10:51 AM

Manila Folder
From the April 12 / April 19, 2004 issue: John Kerry's 1986 wimp-out in the Philippines.
by P.J. O'Rourke
04/12/2004, Volume 009, Issue 30

I'VE HAD A NONPARTISAN grudge against John Kerry for 18 years. This seems an appropriate time to air it.

In February 1986, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos--unpleasant, unwell, and unloved--held a "snap election." This was a somewhat baffling attempt to bolster his authority by running against Corazon Aquino, widow of the opposition leader assassinated by Marcos henchmen. The American diplomatic response was baffled. Marcos was a friend of America, and U.S. military bases in the Philippines were vital to Cold War strategy. But the Philippines was being rent by popular political upheaval, Communist insurgency, Muslim unrest, and economic collapse; and a stable government was needed. But a stable government run by Marcos opponents would be angry about the support Marcos had received from his most powerful, not to say only, friend.

Not knowing what the heck to do in the Philippines, the Reagan administration sent an official election observer delegation headed by Senator Richard Lugar to do what-the-heck. Lugar said his delegation's purpose was "to demonstrate the importance to the United States of free and fair elections in the Philippines." Marcos had ruled the country, by means electoral and otherwise, since 1965. There was little likelihood that the snap election would be free and fair. Not that the U.S. delegation meant to find out. Lugar said, "Our delegation is going to the Philippines to watch and observe and not to pass judgment on the elections." Among the members of this watchful, observant, and non-judgment-passing delegation was the first-term senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry.

I was in the Philippines working on an article for Rolling Stone. The elections proceeded predictably with, as I wrote at the time, "voter-registration records being destroyed, ballot boxes stolen, opposition poll watchers barred from their stations, and army trucks full of 'flying voters' moved from one spot to another." And worse. I went to a farm village, or "barangay," about 80 miles north of Manila to interview the family of Arsenio Cainglet, barangay captain for the Cory Aquino coalition. Cainglet had been shot dead while holding his favorite fighting cock on his lap. With Cainglet's 18-year-old daughter translating, I asked the mourners at his funeral if the vote count reflected the political feelings of the village. "There was an audible collective snort. The mourners looked startled. Some of them laughed. Then they were silent."

The U.S. election observer delegation proceeded predictably, also. After a couple of hours of poll-watching on election morning, Senator Lugar told Manila's government-controlled Channel 4, "The only problems I saw were minor and technical." Channel 4 played this tape clip the rest of the day. By the next morning, Lugar was indignantly telling Tom Brokaw, "It's a very, very suspicious count." But that was not shown on Philippine TV. The members of the U.S. delegation used the words "passionate commitment of the Philippine people to democracy" so often that, shortened to "Pash Commit of Flips to Dem," it became a catch phrase among reporters.

"Anything going on in Quezon City?"

"Pash Commit of Flips to Dem."

The only plain-spoken delegate I encountered was representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who, I'm pleased to note, is still in Congress. He was watching a remarkable number of Marcos votes being counted in the pro-Aquino Manila suburb of Pasay. Murtha, I wrote, "tried to make some statesmanlike noises about 'the passionate commitment of the Philippine people to democracy.'...But outrage overtook him. 'You can see what's going on!' he blurted. 'You can see what the will of the people is!'"

The following is an excerpt from my Rolling Stone article, "Goons, Guns, and Gold."

Most of the Potomac Parakeets were a big disappointment. Massachusetts senator John Kerry was a founding member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but he was a bath toy in this fray.

On Sunday night, two days after the election, thirty of the computer operators from COMELEC [the Philippine government "Commission on Elections," appointed by Marcos and in charge of compiling the final vote tally] walked off the job, protesting that the vote figures were being juggled. Aquino supporters and NAMFREL volunteers took the operators, most of them young women, to a church, and hundreds of people formed a protective barrier around them. [NAMFREL--The National Movement for Free Elections--was supposedly nonpartisan, but NAMFREL members were strongly anti-Marcos.]

Village Voice reporter Joe Conason and I had been tipped off about the walkout, and when we got to the church, we found Bea Zobel, one of Cory Aquino's top aides, in a tizzy. "The women are terrified," she said. "They're scared to go home. They don't know what to do. We don't know what to do." Joe and I suggested that Mrs. Zobel go to the Manila Hotel and bring back some members of the Congressional observer team. She came back with Kerry, who did nothing.

Kerry later said that he didn't talk to the COMELEC employees then because he wasn't allowed to. [A bone-head Rolling Stone fact-checker sent the article to Kerry's Senate office for comment. Kerry staffers were wroth and insisted the senator's version of events be included.] This is ridiculous. He was ushered into an area that had been cordoned off from the press and the crowd and where the computer operators were sitting. To talk to the women, all he would have had to do was raise his voice. Why he was reluctant, I can't tell you. I can tell you what any red-blooded representative of the U.S. Government should have done. He should have shouted, "If you're frightened for your safety, I'll take you to the American embassy, and damn the man who tries to stop me." But all Kerry did was walk around like a male model in a concerned and thoughtful pose.

And there you have probably the only comparison of Kerry to a male model ever made. Not quite trusting my memory--or my reporting, for that matter--I searched out my notes from 1986. I found some scribbles that I'd made on the Sunday night and a journal with a summation of the evening's events written two days later. I was a foreign correspondent at the time, and not much interested in domestic politics. I have Kerry down variously as "Sen. Carey" and "Rep. Kerry."

About nine o'clock on Sunday night, Conason and I were drinking in the bar of the Manila Hotel when a friend of mine from ABC News told us about the COMELEC defections. The workers who quit in protest were very young, in their teens. The 28 girls and 2 boys weren't really computer operators. They were doing data input. They were kids from poor families and very proud that they'd been to data input school. They didn't seem to be politically motivated and were at pains to describe themselves as unpolitical in a touching, if somewhat garbled, statement they read to the press at the NAMFREL-surrounded church. And they certainly were scared. But their professional dignity had been intolerably injured when the voting data that they'd input did not, as it were, outcome.

Joe and I actually sent Bea Zobel to get members of the international election observer delegation, headed by Colombia's Misael Pastrana and John Hume, from Northern Ireland. Before we'd gone to the bar, Joe and I had been at a press conference at the Manila Hotel, listening to Pastrana and Hume denounce vote fraud by Marcos. But when Zobel arrived the only election observer she could find was Kerry, having a late dinner. Zobel was gone for a long time. She said Kerry was "curt" and refused to leave until he'd finished his meal and then only reluctantly returned to the church with her.

From my journal: "Gets there & never talks to Comelec girls. Boy is ball-less. Joe and I finally push forward & tell Kerry it was us (1 Dem. & 1 Rep.) that called for him (we also heard, Comelec girls wanted Observers called). That it was Joe & me seemed to make a big difference to Kerry. Who still did f---all."

What I meant by "seemed to make a big difference" was that Kerry's ears perked right up when he heard his name called by members of the press. His reaction was to turn to us and say, magisterially, "No interviews, boys." We explained that we had no interest in interviewing him and suggested that he provide some reassurance to the frightened conscientious objectors from COMELEC.

Now, with benefit of hindsight, I think I can tell you why Kerry didn't do so. He was caught in Kerry-ish calculation--an ambitious young senator on his first important bipartisan delegation with its delicate mission of neutrality. Cory Aquino was very popular. But so was President Reagan. Which way to have it? Why, have it both ways! So Kerry was firmly behind Pash Commit of Flips to Dem, up to a point. Just as today Kerry is brave sailor/bold war protester; foe of Saddam/friend of Hans Blix; political underdog/entitled nominee; big government liberal/corporate tax-cutting conservative; rider of Harleys/marrier of Heinz; and, incidentally, still a real jerk.

P.J. O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and author of the forthcoming Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism (Atlantic Monthly Press).

Caliente

04-14-2004, 11:41 AM

Remember the Blood of Heroes (http://members.cox.net/classicweb/Heroes/heroes.htm)